The need for business people to communicate leads them to employ a wide range of tools, whether they are sanctioned or unsanctioned. Increasingly, folks are using their Twitter, Facebook and other accounts to do their jobs. The next step is obvious -- and it's here: Nemertes Research analyst Irwin Lazar says a trend has developed that marries social computing and traditional UC platforms.

Any doubt that telepresence is a vital element of an organization's repertoire of communications tools ended this week. The first sign of approval was from Cisco, which closed its acquisition of Tandberg. The second was from Mother Nature, which grounded much of the world's air traffic.

Rural America Onshore Sourcing uses broadband and basic UC tools to enable outsourcing to rural areas of 13 states. Co-Founder and CEO Christopher Hytry Derrington tells Site Editor Carl Weinschenk that UC tools and broadband connectivity -- which will increase as the broadband stimulus takes root and the National Broadband Plan is implemented -- are keys to tapping into a decentralized but skilled domestic workforce.

A Frost & Sullivan study released in March says that the installed base of UC users worldwide will grow from 2 million last year to 50 million in 2015. Much of this growth -- especially early in the cycle -- will be software based and sit atop existing infrastructures. In the longer term, organizations must ensure that the networks supporting their UC implementations are up to the task.